DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Means Guarantee of world class Infrastructure Modi longest Sea-bridge; Guarantee Atal Setu,world’s highest Rail Arch bridge Chenab, Sarkar Government of India Scan for more information cbc 22201/13/0318/2324 Ki Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat KEY DECISIONS BY UNION CABINET ON THE DAY NSO RELEASES GROWTH DATA GDPgrowthaccelerates Big leap for chip mission: to8.4%inQ3,estimate 3 plants, Rs 1.26 lakh crore investment get Govt nod forFY24peggedat7.6% First fab plant AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 29 INDIA’S GROSS Domestic Product (GDP) growth surged to a six-quarter high of 8.4% in October-December, pushing up the growth rate for 2023-24 to 7.6% as against the earlier estimate of 7.3%, data for third quarter GDP and second advance estimates for 2023-24 released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday showed. Evenasagriculturalgrowthis expected to remain subdued at 0.7%, FY24 GDP is seen gaining from a low base effect, and an over 8% growth in manufacturing,miningandfinancialservices. Inthethirdquarterof thecurrentfinancialyear,amongsectors, manufacturing posted the highestgrowthrateindoubledigitsat 11.6%,whiletheconstructionsector grew 9.5%. Agriculture CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Not even the wickedest FM can tweak state tax share: Sitharaman ‘Govt agencies will go after every fellow who has got black money’ ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 29 THE TAX devolution share of states is decided by the Finance Commission and no Finance Minister,noteventhe“wickedest” one, can tweak it in favour of one state or the other, Union Finance MinisterNirmalaSitharamansaid FM Sitharaman at the Adda in Bengaluru. Amit Chakravarty at the Express Adda organised by The Indian Express in Bengaluru Wednesday. She also said more than domestic factors, external factorsareacauseofworryforthe economy. “TheCentralgovernmenthas CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SOUMYARENDRA BARIK NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 29 THE UNION Cabinet on Thursday approved three chip related projects worth about Rs 1.26 lakh crore, including what could be India’s first semiconductor fabrication plant, which will be set up by the Tata Group along with a Taiwanese technology partner. The Tata Group will set up the foundry in partnership with Taiwan-based Powerchip (PSMC) at an estimated cost of Rs 91,000 crore in Gujarat’s Dholera.Theplantwillhaveacapacity to produce 300 crore chipseveryyear,whichwillcater to industries like high performance computing, electric vehicles,defenceandconsumerelectronics, among other things. The construction of the facility will begin in less than 100 days, IT MinisterAshwiniVaishnawsaid. PSMC is a major entity in the chip manufacturing space, and ranks among the top ten semiconductorcompaniesintermsof global revenues. The Indian Expresshadfirstreportedthatthe Tata Group was looking to set up afabricationplantinthecountry. SOUMYARENDRA BARIK & ANIL SASI NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 29 Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw addresses a press conference on the Cabinet decisions. Amit Mehra Typically, a new fabrication plant--fromthedateof completion of construction -- takes about 4-5 years to produce the first batch of chips. In a briefing, Vaishnawsaidthattimecouldbe reduced in the case of TataPSMC since the land has already beenidentifiedandconstruction will begin soon. The approvals are a major fillip to India's semiconductor ambitions. As geopolitical tensions shape the global narrative, the Indiangovernmenthasidentified electronics manufacturing as a key economic growth driver, with chip manufacturing at the heart of these plans. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Rihanna to SRK to Zuckerberg, A play and an interfaith celebs make beeline to Jamnagar elopement: What led to for Ambani’s pre-wedding bash RAJASTHAN SCHOOL AT CENTRE OF ROW suspension of 3 teachers over conversion claims The government school in Kota’s Khajuri Odpur. Hamza Khan HAMZA KHAN SANGOD (KOTA), FEBRUARY 29 ON REPUBLIC Day, at a government senior secondary school in Rajasthan’sKotadistrict,agirlstudent personifying Bharat Mata tookcenterstageinaplay.Oneby one,aHindu,aMuslim,aSikhand a Christian character attempted to mould her into their identity, beforebeginningtofightoverher. PAGE 1 ANCHOR Watchful citizens, also played by students, thwarted their attempts,withtheplayendingwith the “religions” uniting and the Tricolour being waved. “It was a sarva dharma sadbhav natak, and as teachers, it is ourresponsibilitytotryandsend a good message to the community, one of unity,” said Kamlesh Bairwa, principal of the Government Senior Secondary CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 can help plug in to global value chain GOPAL KATESHIYA AS THE Union Cabinet approved a slew of semiconductor related projects totalling investments of about Rs 1.26 lakh crore, the real breakthrough was the Tata Group’s semiconductor fabrication plant in partnership with Taiwan’s PSMC due to its strategic importance. This plant is ● proposed to be developed as a pure-play foundry that rolls out semiconductorwafersforanumber of industries, including highperformancecomputing,display drivers and microcontrollers (MCU).Thelandhasalreadybeen identified and construction is set to begin in about three months. E EXPLAINED Shows strength of Indian economy, its potential, our efforts will continue: PM Tata plans India’s first semiconductor fabrication plant with Taiwan partner Madan Lal, Valson, Lamba report indicts DDCA on selection; chief Rohan Jaitley says he wasn’t asked, never got report While still a blueprint, this marks a big leap for India’s CONTINUEDONPAGE2 TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh, on the run for 55 days, is finally held SWEETY KUMARI ALL FLIGHTS are leading to the coastalcityof Jamnagar,asglobal CEOs,headsof states,Bollywood and sports stars, singers, pop artistsaswellasindustryleaders began arriving to be part of the three-day pre-wedding festivities of Anant Ambani, younger son of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani, and fiancee Radhika Merchant, the daughter of Encore Healthcare CEO Viren Merchant, beginning Friday. Theguestlistof around2,000 included King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk and wife Jetsun Pema of Bhutan who arrived on Thursday, besides popstar Rihanna who landed in an Airbus, and is expected to perform at the event. Till March 6, the Jamnagar airporthasturnedintoan"international terminal" to handle around 150 unscheduled flights TRINAMOOL CONGRESS (TMC) strongman Shahjahan Sheikh, who had been on the run for 55 days, was arrested by West Bengal Police on Thursday in connection with an attack in January on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials who had gone to conduct searches at his house in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district. Hours after his arrest, the TMCsuspendedhimforsixyears. Sheikh was taken into custodyadayaftertheCalcuttaHigh Court said that he could be arrested by the CBI, the ED or the West Bengal Police. When Sheikh’s lawyer approached the High Court after the arrest on Thursday to seek urgent hearing of abailplea,thecourtrefusedto grant it and said it had “no sympathy” for the TMC leader. It askedhislawyertoappearbefore CONTINUEDONPAGE7 Delhi cricket’s steep slide: Association sits on report that flagged what’s wrong The jump RAJKOT, FEBRUARY 29 KOLKATA, FEBRUARY 29 Actor Shah Rukh Khan and daughter Suhana (top), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife arrive at Jamnagar. Express TECHNICAL EXPERT GROUP CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The Arun Jaitley Stadium is the homeground of DDCA. File NIHAL KOSHIE NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 29 THE DELHI District Cricket Association (DDCA) has a “compromised and conflicted” selection process that bypasses the chief selector and is marked by “rampant interference” of its officials. This is the key point flagged in a scathing indictment by DDCA's Technical Expert Group (TEG) in the wake of Delhi’s dismal showing last season. The group,chosenbyDDCA,includes EXPRESS NETWORK two 1983 World Cup winners Madan Lal and Sunil Valson and first-class player Vinay Lamba, was set up before the start of the 2022-23 season. Delhi had finished sixth in Group B in last season’s Ranji Trophy and failed to qualify for the knockouts this season too. The TEG report, submitted last March, is part of a police complaint filed in December 2023 at the IP Estate Police Station by one Avdesh Sharma, thatnamestopDDCAofficialsaccusingthemof mismanagement CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY MODI, JUGNAUTH INAUGURATE AIRSTRIP, JETTY 0N MAURITIUS ISLAND P10 SC: NO AUTOMATIC VACATION OF STAY AFTER 6 MONTHS P11 India’s young sitting on rising obesity curve, shows Lancet study ANURADHA MASCARENHAS PUNE, FEBRUARY 29 INDIA COULD be facing an obesity epidemic, with alarm bells ringing, particularly for the young. A new global analysis, published by The Lancet, found that 12.5 million children (7.3 million boys and 5.2 million girls) in the country, aged between 5and 19, were grossly overweight in 2022, up from 0.4 million in 1990. The report showed more than three per cent prevalence amongchildrenandteens,anincrease of over three percentage points from 1990. Obesity is also a concern among adults, with female obesity prevalence increasing sharply — women had a 9.8 per cent prevalence, an increase of 8.6percentagepointsfrom1990. For men, this number stood at 5.4 per cent, an increase of 4.9 percentage points. Obesity, as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), is an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat that presents a risk to health. A body mass index (BMI) over 25 is considered overweight and over 30 is obese. The new study reveals that 44 million women and 26 million men aged above 20 in India were found to be overweight, this figure being 2.4 million women and 1.1 million men in 1990. India ranks 182 among 197 countries for the prevalence of obesity in women and 180 for men in 2022. The country ranked 174 in the world for both girls and boys. This finding is significant at a time when India already has a THE OBESITY NUMBERS India 1990 2022 Men 1.1 26 Women 2.4 44 Boys 0.2 7.3 Girls 0.2 5.2 Source: Lancet high burden of non-communicable diseases — heart disease, strokes, and diabetes topping World 1990 Men 67 Women 128 Boys and 31 girls (total) 2022 374 504 160 All figures in million them. Obesity is a major risk factor and a trigger for early onset of thesediseases,evenType2di- abetes among teens. DrGuhaPradeepa,co-author of the study and Head, Department of Research Operations and Diabetes Complications at the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, flags that the primary drivers of theobesityepidemicin Indiaare a shift in diet choices away from traditionalfoodsandphysicalinactivity. “We have shifted away fromwholefoodssuchaspulses, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Our traditional food was low on animal products, salt, refined oils, sugars, and flours, but we have now moved towards a diet that is high in energy but low in nutrients — refined carbohydrates, high fat, meat products, and processed foods. In addition, a range of behavioural factors could also have a potentialeffectonobesity amongchildren,” says Dr Pradeepa. The study also flags severe under-nutrition in the country among all age groups. India ranksthehighestintheworldfor underweight girls and the second highest for boys. Obesity andunderweightarebothforms of malnutrition. These two di- vergent peaks show that India has a double burden of both thinness and obesity, which remains a significant health challenge in the country. Analysing the study, senior author and Professor of Imperial College, London, Majid Ezzati says India has a big challenge in tackling both kinds of malnutrition – that of the under-fed and the overfed. “To successfully tackle both forms of malnutrition, it is vital we significantly improve the availability and affordability of healthy, nutritious CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad